Does it have push buttons? Confessions of a Jetsons junkie...
Posted on the OS on 12/22/2006.
When I was a child I hated anything "old-fashioned" and loved our 1960s technology. We had all the modern conveniences...We had a phone in our house... one phone, installed by and belonging to the phone company, with a 5-digit phone number. Long distance required an operator was only used for dire emergencies.... We wrote letters instead...
We had a TV, too... a black & white console... we got 4 channels... if you've ever laughed at Jeff Foxworthy's lament about the President being on every channel, hear me now when I tell you it was TRUE!
My dad had a radio on the kitchen table that plugged into the wall... it only got AM, but then again, we only had one station in town... I had a record player, too...
Hey, it was the dawn of the Space Age... I thought we had it all... then one day I saw a rocket ship go up on TV... and I knew there were a lot of things out there I didn't understand. Top that off with a healthy dose of Star Trek, and The Jetsons and a technology junkie was born!
Before the 60s were over we had a color TV, a 4-track tape deck in the car, a stereo, and an extension phone in the house... with a 7-digit number! I acquired a transistor radio, an instamatic camera and a cassette tape recorder... I loved anything with push buttons...
In 1969 my brother took me to see a computer room... this was not a spare bedroom converted into a home office, it was the entire floor of a large building in a large city and it was LOUD... packed with 7-foot tall machines running reel-to-reel tapes and reading punched cards...
That was THEN....I like NOW better!
NOW, I have a desktop PC and a laptop, two PDAs, a MP3 player, a digital camera, and a high-def TV that gets 180 channels... I send emails to my mom and instant messages to my grandsons... I have a wireless modem that allows me to connect almost anywhere...
And I have a phone that suspiciously resembles a Star Trek communicator... it fits into my pocket and works almost anywhere in the country... and it has a 10-digit number...
Our technological progress can now be gauged by the length of our telephone numbers...
Fun can happen in the most unexpected places...
Today I went to Fry's Electronics in search of a replacement video card, and I discovered a display stacked full of Master Replica Lightsabers! Of course I had to stop and play with Obi-Wan's 
and then went on about my business...
About 20 minutes later I was on my way out and passing by the same display and saw two young men with puzzled looks on their faces.... "Well, whose is this one?" I heard... " and "This one's PURPLE!"
So of course I had to step in and educate them, helped them find the on and off switches, showed them how to make that cool humming noise by waving the saber around... then we discussed the effect of fluorescent store lighting on lightsaber blades...
Normally, I never talk to strangers.... But...
Suddenly they weren't people half my age that I'd never seen before, and hopefully I was no longer some crazy old lady swooshing a lightsaber around a computer store... we were people who had something in common! This was a STAR WARS MOMENT!
I think the tall one was going to buy the Mace Windu model.... I still think the Obi-Wan model is sweet...
If only I'd had $100...
/begin singing... Christmas time is here... /end singing
The presents have been bought, and wrapped, and shipped... they've even arrived at their destination safely...
We have plane tickets, train tickets, a taxi reservation, and new luggage...
Katnobi has a reservation at the local kennel and new blankie to take with him...he's even got his own personal stash of his favorite foods...
My MP3 is loaded up with Christmas songs, and my PDA with ebooks for the trip... the laptop hard drive has been cleaned off to make room for all the digital photos I'm going to take...
So, you're wondering what's the problem? I tell you the problem... I CAN'T WAIT! I do not have the patience that a good Jedi should have... I'm even having trouble watching SW movies... i keep hitting the fast forward button...
It's barely been a month since I left my Padawans, and I can't wait to get back and see them again. Two more weeks.... Two more weeks.... 14 days... 14 long, boring days...
There won't be anyone here for Christmas, so there's no decorating going on, no cookie baking... no fudge making... no package shaking to try to guess the contents...
So for all of you who are worrying that you won't have time to get everything done before Christmas... chill! It could always be worse...
One thing about all this waiting, though... it's making me feel like a youngling again...
Dear Santa,
Absence does not always make the heart grow fonder... sometimes absence brings the heart and mind a little peace... like the absence of loud stereos in cars on my street, or the absence of junk mail...
And if you're going to do junk mail, Santa, how about wiping out all the spam, scams, chain letters and phony prayers that clutter my email?
I know you can't get rid of all the commercials on TV, but how about we never have to see another ad for diet pills, male enhancement products or the Video Professor?
If I never see another offer for "identity theft protection" it'll be too soon... trust me, there's nothing to protect... no one would want my identity!
I'd also like, and this is not just for me, but for everyone.... the absence of monster and horror movies from the Sci-Fi channel... wait, don't even get me started there...
Santa, please take all those people who think Star Wars is just for geeks and lock them up at the south pole...I know everyone here would appreciate it...
Thanks Santa, I'll try to be good enough the rest of the year to deserve all this, but if I slip up and shove a bell down a bell-ringer's throat will you forgive me?
Love,
Granny
Whenever I watch AOTC I wonder what made Padme fall in love with Anakin. Yes, he was cute and flirtatious, and they had a fun together at their little lakeside hideaway, but he was so YOUNG...
Younger than she was, and in many ways he was still a child. He couldn't hold his temper, he was jealous, he pouted like a 4 year old, and yet she found him irresistible. So irresistible that she overcame her own good sense and admitted that she loved him.
After that tantrum in the garage on Tatooine she should have run away as fast as she could, but instead she fell in love... Go figure...
But then, I've never understood the attraction of the bad boy.... I happen to like nice men...
The other possibility is that Anakin awakened Padme's motherly instinct. All the same factors apply... he's young, cute and needs a lot of emotional support. She tried over and over to help him, as padmeskywalker77 pointed out earlier today, but to no avail.
When Anakin and Padme reunited after the Battle of Coruscant, Anakin declares, "I don't care if they know we're married!" Padme chides him for this, but moments later, after disclosing her pregnancy, she asks, "What are we going to do?"
In Matthew Stover's novel of ROTS, Padme thinks "her husband needs to be a Jedi" so even though she realizes they have a problem, she still tries to protect Anakin, like a mother would.
I really don't understand that sort of attraction either... I happen to like nice men who are grown up...
Please don't misunderstand me, I loved the character of Padme... until she gives up and dies on the delivery room table... that just doesn't fit into the character of the strong, self assured woman that Padme was in Episodes 1 & 2. In her databank entry, it says, "Padmé gasped for breath as life began to escape from her," and that despite medical treatment her life signs, "continued to dwindle" until she died. To me, that supports the idea that Anakin caused the very thing he tried to prevent, her death.
So, I still don't understand the attraction.... I guess it was just lust! {LOL}
The quality of blogs seems to have improved lately. Maybe back-to-school has cut down on the free time of teeny-bopper crowd... hopefully they'll learn some spelling and grammar while they're at it... I bet I'm showing my age by using the term "teeny-bopper" {LOL}
Recently I listened to the audiobook of "Bloodlines"... what a stinker that was. I got bored by the end of the third CD (there were five). I lost count of how many times the term "cold-blooded killer" was used in a scene with Han Solo... if this was some sort of veiled defense of the changing of the Han-Greedo cantina scene, it doesn't work... of course Han killed people in the past, he was a pirate and a Rebel soldier... his freedom was worth fighting for, and fighting a war includes killing... this book turns everyone including Luke into some sort of sissy-pants pacifist...
I hate it when bits of our universe intrude into the Star Wars universe... like Ben saying "Force forgive me" like an earthling would say "God forgive me"... the Force is not a being, supreme or otherwise, that can grant forgiveness... it's an energy field... and Han saying "The proverbial bad feeling." The bad feeling that a Jedi gets is real; it's totally disrespectful to call it proverbial... it's proverbial to us in this universe, not to those in the GFFA....
And Boba Fett is still chasing bounties at age 70? Puleeeze... this guy should have stayed in the Sarlaac Pit... the only good thing about having him in this book is the revelation that he's dying (again)... if you're thinking about replying about how great Boba and/or the Mandalorians are, don't bother... my delete finger is already itchy...
The best thing I can say about this book is that in listening to it while sewing Halloween costumes I didn't waste and time over it, and in borrowing the CDs I didn't spend any money on it...
Next book up is "Outbound Flight" as soon as the library gets it in... l have high hopes for that, since I like Timothy Zahn's work...
Now Halloween, that's something fun to talk about... My Grand-Padawans dressed up as Luke and Vader... This was their first year living in a small town where they could go trick-or-treating, and they had a major blast! We found a street with three blocks worth of houses intensely decorated and ran it from one end to the other... it was freezing out, but they didn't care... I wore my Jedi costume, but you don't get to see a picture... sorry...ha!
Their Dad built a bonfire in his yard, and played with fire enough to give us the Delorean Effect... I'd rather use the camera for special effects....
All in all, spending Halloween on Endor was a great time... If you're really interested you can see it here and here....
Thanksgiving has come and gone without fanfare at Granny and Grampa's house... as usual I'm thankful for Star Wars (and the invention of the DVD)... I tried to remember anything momentous from Thanksgiving 1977, my first post-Star Wars turkey day, but I couldn't think of anything...
We're happily planning our trip to C-4... I guess I need to make a costume for Grampy-Wan to wear... I'm wearing the Jedi garb, of course...
"And that be all" for now, I don't know if I'm back for good or not... only time will tell...
Hello everyone, I'm still resting my brain... but I've moved all my entries to my personal blog for safekeeping!
Episode 17: I Sense a Plot to Destroy the Jedi (9/4/06) - I like my heroes on the GOOD side...
Episode Sixteen: Notes from a Traveling Jedi (8/12/06) - Get your kicks on Route 666.... Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may be in Utah... Things are not always what they seem...
Episode 15: You Must Do What You Feel is Right, of Course... (7/24/2006) - Finding your density... uh, I mean fighting your destiny... Anakin Skywalker vs. Sir Lancelot...no, not a poll, not a duel, just a random comparison...
Episode 14 Skinny-Dipping on Tatooine (7/11/2006) - Where would you go if you left Tatooine? It's hot and it's dry... but the water is clear and suits are optional!
Episode 13: My Trip to Endor and Back (7/3/2006) - The Search for Serenity and WI-FI... Snarking on the Left, Snarking on the Right... Red, White & Blue Milk...
Not an Episode: Granny-Wan's Day Out (6/9/2006) - No Ancient Jedi Wisdom today, just a movie recommendation for Cars... and ice cream advice...
Episode Twelve: The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth (6/7/2006) - Back on the homepage.... Does everybody know what time it is? It's time for the geeks to strike back...
Episode 11: A Padawan Sings in Jabba's Bathtub (6/2/2006) - The invention of a new weapon, a refreshing weapon, from a more fluidic age... I know where the Empire's hiding ... More things that bug me...
Episode 10: A New Order? I Don't Think So! (5/29/2006) - Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your movie...
Episode 9: Meanwhile, Back on Tatooine (5/27/2006) - Two Jedi, a clone trooper, and a Protocol Droid leading a gundark walk into a cantina... But, seriously...
Episode Eight: Alphabet Slop (5/28/2006) - I'm going to watch Star Wars... Oh, you ask, will that be the OT or the PT? How about the OOT, or is it the UOT? Do you have it on VHS or DVD? Are you watching on TV, PC or PSP? If I were a man, I could watch it in my BVDs... all this is too much for my ADD...
Episode Seven: Teardrops on Kittens (5/22/2006) - A Hiss Lord meets The Force...
A Brief Pause for a Two-Line Blog (5/16/2006)- Is anyone out there? I got something to say! I know that's poor grammer....and I wonder if anyone ever told Anakin it's "better to burn out than fade away...?"
Granny-Wan's Holiday Special (Mothers Day 2006) - A Tribute to The Great One... A Love Affair with Technology... Why isn't George's birthday a holiday?
Episode Six: A Lot of Things Mean Little... (5/12/2006) - ...But little things can mean a lot...A night on a Medstar... Jedi in Jammies...
Episode Five: Attack of the Action Figures! (5/2/2006) - Attack of the Action Figures...Revenge of the Trailers: YOU'LL LAUGH, YOU'LL CRY, YOU'LL KISS THREE BUCKS GOODBYE... Memories from a long, LONG, time ago, in a state not too far away...
Episode 4: ...And in Star Wars, Truth! (4/23/2006) - There is truth in beauty, and in Star Wars, truth... Lines we'd like to hear in the next Special Editions...Star Wars pops up in the strangest places...
Episode 3: Out of the Mouths of Younglings (4/20/2006) - Padawns say that darndest things...Is the Empire hiding in my neighborhood? The younglings have Jedi cats.
Episode Two: Becoming a Fanatic (4/17/2006) - How I became a fan, started a trend, discovered a Sith... and was undone by evil...
Episode One: My First Entry (4/17/2006) testing the waters!
Does it have push buttons? Confessions of a Jetsons junkie...
